NEWS
Hollywood to conduct fall meet
Posted: Thursday, March 19, 2009 2:23 PM
by Jeff Lowe
Hollywood Park will proceed with a live meet this fall as plans continue for a $2-billion project to develop the 238-acre property.
Hollywood President Jack Liebau confirmed to the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday that the track would continue racing this fall, but he did not speak to any plans beyond that.
"I think all of racing needs to collectively lobby the Inglewood City Council and any other authorities that are looking for different uses for that facility [and tell them] that we feel it's important that it be a racetrack," CHRB Chairman John Harris said. "I don't know if racing has been as vocal as it could be on that. In today's economic times, it definitely generates a lot more dollars as is than it would as any empty lot like Bay Meadows apparently is."
Bay Meadows Land Co. owns Hollywood Park and the former site of Bay Meadows Race Course, which lies in rubble after being demolished last fall. The planned development of the Bay Meadows property has been postponed indefinitely because of the economic downturn.
Hollywood will operate a spring-summer meet from April 22 to July 19 and a fall meet from November 11 to December 21.
Jeff Lowe is a THOROUGHBRED TIMES staff writer
